Olney City Council discussed department vehicle purchases during its meeting on Monday.

The council discussed buying two 2013 half-ton Ford pickup trucks. One would be for the Park Department and one would be for the Water Plant.

City Manager Larry Taylor said there is $17,000 budgeted in each department. The state bid is $16,705 per truck. The bid from Eagleson, was for $21,114.86 for each truck.

Brown said that toward the end of the last fiscal budget process, the council approved a pickup purchase using money from last fiscal year. He wondered what that truck was for.

Taylor said it was for the Street Department.

Street Department Supervisor Marty Nuss said it was for for new road equipment that was being considered for purchase. "We're planning ahead," he said.

Brown wondered how important the two pickups were.

Park Department Supervisor Frank Bradley said they were "very important."

"We don't have enough trucks in the Park Department to operate as we want to," he said.

He said the new truck for the Water Plant would replace a 1994 Ford with more than 124,000 miles on it. He said that will be transferred to the Park Department.

Councilman Brad Brown asked how many additional trucks the city was considering.

Taylor said he thought the only other one was a three-quarter truck for the Sewer Department.

Treasurer Chuck Sanders also mentioned two other cars. Taylor said these were a squad car and a replacement for the police chief's car.

Brown said he would rather see the city postpone a vote until it figures out how it wants to handle the overall budget.

He said he was not necessarily against the purchase, but he thought something would have to be removed. One of the trucks might be a start, he said.

Bradley said that if the city bought a vehicle from state bid, it would take a while to get it. He said it would be about three months if the city ordered them now. If it's June before the city orders them, it could be a longer wait, he said.

"Although it sounds like an awful lot of vehicles to be replacing, they do need replaced," Ferguson said.

Mayor Ray Vaughn suggested tabling the item for two weeks so he and new council member John Mclaughlin could get a vehicle inventory from Sanders. He also joked that he did not want to set a record for spending on his first night in office.

The council also discussed purchasing a three-quarter-ton pickup for the Sewer Department.

Taylor said the state bid was lower by roughly $2,000. There is $25,000 budgeted for the purchase.

Brown suggested also delaying this.

Mclaughlin asked if departments share trucks at all.

Page 2 of 2 - Nuss said that "stuff moves around in departments," but not in the way Mclaughlin was thinking. He said vehicles get moved around when a department is done with them.

The item was tabled.

In other business, the council:

• Approved the sale of personal property.

A Nissan truck was taken off the list of items to sell so it could go back into the Park Department.

• Approved Mclaughlin as the council's representative on the JEDS board.

• Re-appointed Belinda Henton as city clerk and Chuck Sanders as city treasurer.

The re-appointments were necessary due to the start of a new mayoral term.

• Heard from Taylor, who said the city is required to provide a water-quality report from water plant. He said the city has been able to post this on its website and avoid the cost of publishing it in the newspaper.

He also said that because the fourth Monday this month is Memorial Day, the next council meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 28.

• Heard from Vaughn, who said he has served on many boards and the council meets later than any of them. He asked the council to consider an earlier start time for the meetings. The council meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of each month.

• Held an executive session to discuss appointment and employment of specific employees and acquisition of real property.